The Radiohead and Atoms For Peace frontman called the music-sharing site “the last fart of a dying corpse,” and the music biz’s attitude to creativity “bullshit.”

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has waded in with his thoughts on the music sharing business once again–and the imagery ain’t pretty. Interviewed by Mexican music site Sopitas, the singer and musician called the music streaming business “the last fart of a dying corpse,” and said what was important for filmmakers, writers, as well as musicians–was what comes next.

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“I don’t even consider the mainstream to be the mainstream now,” he told the interviewer. “It’s like a mutation. The way people listen to music is going through this big transition and I feel that as musicians we need to fight the Spotify thing… it’s the last gasp of an old industry, and once that does finally die, which it will, something new will happen. What happens next, in terms of technology, how people talk to each other about music. A lot of it could be really bad.

“I don’t subscribe to what some people in the industry say,” he continues. “‘Well, this is all we have left.’ I don’t agree. When we did In Rainbows, what we found was that it was a direct link between you as a musician and your audience. And then all these fuckers get in the way like Spotify trying to become the gatekeepers to the whole process. No artist needs you to do that, we can build this shit ourself, fuck off. Because they are using the majors, who can sell all their old stuff, make a fortune and not die. It’s about the future of all music, whether we believe there is a future in music–same with the film industry, same with books. This is like a last fart of a dying corpse. What is important is the next bit.”

Two months ago, the singer, along with his Atoms For Peace bandmate and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, pulled all of his songs from Spotify. The music streamer, however says it has paid up half a billion dollars to rights holders so far, with another half a billion due at the end of this year.

About the author

My writing career has taken me all round the houses over the past decade and a half--from grumpy teens and hungover rock bands in the U.K., where I was born, via celebrity interviews, health, tech and fashion in Madrid and Paris, before returning to London, where I now live. For the past five years I've been writing about technology and innovation for U.S.